Friday brings us a stuffed slate of MLB action, including one day game. Headliners include the Brewers shutting out the Cubs at Wrigley for their season-high seventh straight victory, and the Yankees going on the road to face the first-place Rays. Speaking of that latter series, our own Mike Axisa broke down the biggest AL East encounter of the season to date. Now let's jump into Friday.
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Baseball scores for Friday, May 10Mets break out with eight-run first inning
It's the oldest trick in the book: Hold a team meeting right before a bad team comes to town. In this case, the meeting involved Mets owner Jeff Wilpon, GM Brodie Wagenen, and manager Mickey Callaway, and the bad team was the Marlins. Wilpon, Van Wagenen, and Callaway met for more than an hour Friday to discuss the team's struggles.
How did the Mets respond? With an eight-run first inning against Miami righty Pablo Lopez. Amed Rosario had the big blow with an opposite field grand slam.
Inexplicably, Lopez, a 23-year-old with an actual chance to be part of the next respectable Marlins team, was left in the game long enough to allow 10 runs in three innings. Tens runs on 10 hits and two walks, including three homers. Lopez threw 62 pitches. Three of the last six pitchers to allow 10-plus earned runs in a game are Marlins:
May 10, 2019: Pablo Lopez, Marlins vs. Mets (10 ER in 3 IP)April 9, 2019: Wei-Yin Chen, Marlins vs. Reds (10 ER in 2 IP)August 2, 2018: Andrew Cashner, Orioles vs. Rangers (10 ER in 1 2/3 IP)July 31, 2018: Tyler Skaggs, Angels vs. Rays (10 ER in 3 1/3 IP)July 21, 2018: Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Rangers vs. Indians (11 ER in 4 IP)July 7, 2018: Elieser Hernandez, Marlins vs. Nationals (10 ER in 2 1/3 IP)According to WCBS 880's Wayne Randazzo, the eight first inning runs are one short of the Mets franchise record. They scored nine runs in the first inning against the Giants back on August 16, 1988. New York had not scored eight runs in any of their previous 11 games.
Gio has been just what the Brewers needed
Given the loss of Wade Miley to free agency and the uncertain status of Jimmy Nelson, the Brewers have rotation concerns. To address those concerns they recently inked veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez, who helped them to the division title last season after he was acquired in trade from the Nationals. This year Gonzalez had been in the minors for the Yankees, but the Yanks opted to allow him to become a free agent rather than add him to the active roster. So need and familiarity intersected for the Brewers and Gonzalez. It's been a nice addition for Milwaukee.
Speaking of which, here's what Gio did against the Cubs in the opener of their key NL Central clash on Friday:
Add those outputs to Gonzalez's prior two starts for the Brewers this season, and in 2019 he's now pitched to a 1.69 ERA in three starts with 12 strikeouts and four walks in 16 innings. Gonzalez's velocity is what it is, but he's balanced out an already balanced repertoire. This season, he's yet to throw any one of his four pitches more than 28.4 percent of the time, and he's yet to throw any one of them less than 21.9 percent of the time. That keeps hitters guessing, which allows him to keep runs off the board despite sub-par velo and average stuff. So long as he keeps commanding that full bag of tricks, he should be key to the Brewers' hopes to repeat in the NL Central.
Also in this one, Ryan Braun did what he does at Wrigley Field:
As MLB.com's Adam McCalvy notes, Braun was 106 for 324 (.327) with 18 home runs and 69 RBI in 84 career games at Wrigley Field through Friday's homer. He finds the Friendly Confines, well, friendly. The Brewers' Friday win means there's now a tie atop the NL Central standings.
Quick hits
